A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3)(50)

“I would love that, Ben. I’m sure Abby would love to see you too.”

I grinned. My little sister could be quite a brat, but I loved her dearly. “Mess up the midget’s hair for me, will you, Mom?”

“I’ll do no such thing.”

I laughed at the sound of reprimand coming from her tone of voice. When my laughter died down, all I could think about was asking a question that I already knew the answer to. “Have you heard from Sofia, Mom?”

“No.”

I could hear the resentment in my mother’s voice. She’d never liked Sofia much, and she was often outspoken about it, but I appreciated that she didn’t express her negative opinion of my best friend at that point. Perhaps she could sense how much I missed Sofia.

“A friend of yours has been calling though.”

I creased my brows in surprise. “Who?”

“A Natalie Borgia. Familiar?”

Strangely, the name did sound familiar, but I couldn’t quite place who the person was and where I’d heard the name. “What did she say?”

“Well, she just left a number and asked me to tell you to call her.”

“Okay. Could you give me the number, Mom?”

My mother dictated the number and I took note. We exchanged a couple of stories before finally calling it a night and hanging up. I stared at the number, still trying to remember who Natalie Borgia was, wondering why she would want to get in touch with me.

Overcome by curiosity, I dialed the number. The phone kept ringing and I was just about to give up waiting when a sultry voice with an Italian accent greeted me, “Hello?”

“Hi. Is this Natalie Borgia?”

“Perhaps. Who’s calling?”

“Ben Hudson. You were calling my home, trying to get in touch with me?”

“Finally,” she said. “I have a message for you.”

“A message?”

“Yes. From Lucas Novak. Does the name ring a bell?”

That’s when the name finally clicked. Natalie Borgia. She was mentioned in one of our training lectures. She was one of the oldest known vampires existing. She was a rogue, not belonging to any covens. Catching her would make for a king’s ransom. Every vampire coven would be clamoring for her. What on earth did she or Lucas Novak want with me?

“Hello?” she cleared her throat. “You still there?”

“Yes. Lucas Novak? What does the prince of The Shade want?”

“He wants to help you get to The Shade.”

“Why on earth would he do that?”

“He wants to separate Sofia Claremont from his brother. He wants her out of The Shade and he believes only you can help him do that. He will arrange transport for you. Of course, you won’t know how to reach the island. Its location must remain protected.”

“What kind of fool would I be to trust Lucas Novak? Or you for that matter?”

“Lucas says that he knows where your family lives...”

My jaw tensed at this blatant threat. “Look, whoever you are…If Lucas…”

“Hey, Ben…” she interrupted me calmly. “I don’t care about whatever it is that Lucas Novak is up to. I’m just a messenger. Don’t shoot me. What message do you want me to relay to him?”

I gave it a moment’s thought. Before I could completely think things through, I went with my impulse. “Fine. I’ll do what he says, but I have my terms.”

“And those terms would be?”

“I keep Sofia.”

“Interesting. I’ll let him know. I’ll be in touch with you, Ben Hudson.” Natalie chuckled, and then hung up.

The only thought on my mind was whether or not to kill Lucas Novak while I had the chance. And for some reason, I realized that I didn’t want to. I wondered why. After the things he’d put Sofia through, I knew he deserved to die. As I mulled over it late into the night, I realized the reason behind my willingness to spare his life.

Lucas Novak was the only chance I had to get to Sofia.

CHAPTER 33: SOFIA

What we were doing was suicide and I knew it, and I think every other human insane enough to join in on our “stand” knew that they could die for what they were doing, but we did it nonetheless.

On the day of the culling, the whispers of our stand passed on through word-of-mouth like wildfire across every single one of the thousands of cells within The Catacombs. The message was simple: Tomorrow, there will be a culling. Make a stand against this and guard the entrance to the Black Heights.

Gavin visited my quarters earlier. We exchanged glances and gave each other a weak smile.

“You sure you’re up for this?” he asked.

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life,” I told him.

“What’s the prince going to think?”

“I think he will love me still.”

After I returned to my quarters from the meeting with the rebels the night before, I found Ashley waiting there for me. We shared an embrace and a couple of tears. She apologized for not having visited sooner. She was afraid of her own cravings and what she could possibly do to me and the girls. She wished now that she’d come earlier. Rosa arrived with Gavin. She remained silent, visibly shaken. She and Paige had been very close. I found myself at a loss for words when it came to trying to console Rosa. It seemed Ashley felt the same way.